Mounted-specimen-display protector



Mar. 27, 1923' B. T. B. HYDE MOUNTED SPECIMEN DISPLAY PROTECTOR Filed Aug. 6, 1921 Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNETEQ BENJAMIN T. BAIBBITT HYDE, OF YORK, N. Y.

MOUNTED-SPEGIMEN-DISPLAY PROTECTOR.

Application filed August 6, 1921. Serial Ito 490,222.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN T. BAB- BITT HYDE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the county, city, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mounted- Specimen-Display Protectors, set forth in the following specification.

This invention relates to the mounting, particularly for educational purposes, of specimens such, for example, as stuffed birds, animals, insects, and the like.

Many nature study classes operate at a disadvantage from the lack of illustrative specimens, although many of our large museums have a limited number of such specimens to be loaned to such educational institutions provided a reasonable certainty of their return intact could be secured. Heretofore nearly all specimens loaned to such institutions for purposes of study have had a. short life due to the necessary handling at study classes, so that any expectation of their return in worthwhile condition to the museum has been nil.

The purpose of the present invention is to conserve such specimens while, at the same time, permitting each specimen to be handled freely and turned about in such a way as to allow the individual students to obtain a complete view of every part of the specimen. To this end I propose the mounting of the specimens upon perches so fashioned and designed that each perch may be fixed immovably to the interior of a protective, transparent shell and so that it is the shell only that comes in direct contact with the students hands while all the natural aspect of the perch mounting of the specimen is maintained and the specimen can be turned about and every part thereof can be viewed without obstruction.

The above will better be understood by reference to the illustrative embodiment of my invention set forth in the following specification and pointed out more particularly in the accompanying claims, all in connection with the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the preferred embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail section illustrating the joining flanges of the enclosure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View illustrating a modification of the joining flanges of an enclosure such as is shown in- Fig. 1;

4 Fig. 4 is a sectional View illustrating a still further modification; and i Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a double conical configuration embodying my invention.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1, two hemispherical shells 1 and 2 of any suitable tough, transparent material such as celluloid are provided with mating flanges 3 and 4: which 1; together and'may be sealed one to the other by the previous application of a celluloid solvent such as acetone. The specimen A which has been selected for mounting, in this instance a stufied bird, is mounted directly upon a perch, which should be selected to accord with the natural habitat of the specimen, and is preferably selected or fashioned or both to provide four points of contact 5, 6, 7 and 8 with the interior of the enclosure B formed by the shells l and 2. The perch C is also fashioned preferably so that it is resilient relatively to the points of contact 5, 6, 7 and 8 so that it will be automatically immovably fixed within the shell B by the-pressure of the points of contact against the enclosure B when its two parts 1 and 2 are forced together.

The perch formation is also preferably such that the bulk of the interior of the enclosure B may be occupied by the specimen centrally positioned therein. Nevertheless it is contemplated that for some purposes less than four points of contact for the perch may be suitable. For example, in Fig. 5 instead of a spherical enclosure B, a double conical enclosure B is provided in which the mating flanges 3 and 4' are formed at the base edges of two conical. shells 10 and 20. In this configuration of enclosure, a substantially straight perch C is suitable which provides only two points of contact 5 and 6 against the interior of the apices 11 and 21. This structure provides a most suitable mounting assemblage for the specimen A. In this embodiment the structure of the enclosure B and the joining of the flanges 3 and 4' is preferably the same as that described for Fig. 1 and shown more in detail in Fig. 2, although it may be preferable to employ the flange construction shown in Fig. 3 in which the flange 31 comprises a series of resilient fingers 30 adapted to snap under the const1'uct ed exterior flange 11, although it is to be understood that the finger formation 30. may be interchanged from the flange 31 to the flange 11.

In F 4 portions of two hemispherical shells 100 and 200 of glass are illustrated, the edges 300 and 400 of which snugly abut and which are secured in position by an exterior equatorial strip 401, adhesively engaging and spanning the parting between the hemispheres 100 and 200.

hat I claim and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is 1. As an article of manufacture, a transparent hollow body comprisinga plurality of space enclosing shell-portions having mating flanges hermetically sealed together, in combination with an interior specimen and a perch mounting said specimen, said perch being clamped and frictionally held transparent sheet material having mating flanges to form when assembled a substantally spherical protective enclosure; an interior resilient perch providing four separated points of contact with the interior of said'enclosure and adapted to be removably secured to the interior of said enclosure upon the closing together of the said two hemispheres; and a specimen mounted upon said perch so that the turning of said enclosure will expose any part of said specimen to View while protecting it from direct handling.

In witness whereof I have signed my name to this specification at'New York, N. Y., this 8th day of June 1921.

B. T. BABBITT HYDE. 

